Sexual assault is a prevalent, yet underreported and stigmatizing crime that disproportionately affects college-age students. The literature of Library & Information Studies does not currently address the ways in which survivors may seek information after an assault. Blending findings from Psychology and LIS, this study proposes the…

Competency-based education (CBE) is an emerging model for higher education designed to reduce certain barriers to educational attainment. This essay describes CBE and the challenges and opportunities for academic librarians desiring to serve students and faculty in Library and Information Management Master of Library Science (MLS) programs. Every…

The contributions in this volume represent a decade of OCLC's user behavior research findings that articulate the need for the design of future library services to be all about the user. Highlights include: (1) People associate the library with books and do not consider the library in relation to online resources or reference services; (2) People…

An academic library that focuses on delivering a personalized service is examined within the context of the boutique library model. It is suggested that a critical success factor in adopting a personalized, boutique-style service is acquiring knowledge and insight of our users. This, together with appropriate evaluation, will assist with providing…

Discusses the concept of user-centered library services from a theoretical and conceptual basis. Highlights include the traditional information model; the constructivist model; other researchers' approaches to information seeking and information needs; a sense-making model for various library services; question negotiation; knowledge transfer;…

This task force report proposes a plan for providing campus-quality library services to students at three sites of Western Kentucky University's extended campus program which would offer access to main library services and collections rather than the traditional assembling of additional library collections in off-site locations. Elements of the…

This essay lists elements of a public service microcomputer project--needs, clientele or population, skill level, type of service, type of equipment, site or location--and identifies a number of options under each heading. Examples illustrating how librarians can use the model in planning a service are noted. (EJS)

Discusses the theory of self-disclosure and outlines a proposed model of self-disclosure appropriate for reference work and question negotiations between librarians and library users. (Author/FM)

Discusses the need for the library profession to learn not only how to identify information needs, but also to create new services and delivery patterns around them. The existing literature on information needs and information seeking behavior is briefly reviewed, and a research agenda for the 1990s is summarized. (51 references) (Author/CLB)

Discusses problems with access to local government information faced by libraries and by the public. Local government information policies are discussed, information management practices are considered, library services to disseminate government information are suggested, and a checklist for a model local government information policy is included.…

Addresses the two-fold question concerning imposition of instruction on a library user when he/she only wants answer to information need--whether attempted instruction is infringement on the rights of the user, and whether attempted instruction detracts from the librarian's effectiveness in fulfilling information need. Twenty references are…

Discusses a paradigm for academic librarianship that requires greater sensitivity to and identification with needs of library users. Centrality of library academic community is questioned, noting insistence of librarians on independent status of library and failure of bibliographic instruction programs to make issue of critical thinking top…

Government information librarians value instruction as a way to promote their collections and meet their users' information needs. Government information librarians must choose the most appropriate model for their audience and for the relevant learning outcomes in each instruction session they teach. This article discusses three models for…

Introduction: To provide valuable services in the future, libraries will need to create better information systems and set up an infrastructure more in line with the current technologies. The "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records" conceptual model provides a basis for this transformation, but there are still a number of…

Presents ideas developed by library school students at Emporia State University for planning and implementing a library orientation to meet the information needs of academic support personnel. Library services, information materials, and library personnel are considered; and two methods for evaluating the success of the orientation program are…